Wondering what to do with chocolate sprinkles? This guide covers how to pick them, cook them, store them, and swap them, plus 15 recipes to put them to work.

What are chocolate sprinkles?

Chocolate sprinkles are the tiny brown rod-shaped bits of sweetened chocolate used to coat and decorate desserts. In the United States they are usually called jimmies, the name for the elongated kind as opposed to the round nonpareil beads.

They carry a mild cocoa flavor and a soft, waxy snap rather than the deep taste of real chocolate. Unlike rainbow sprinkles, which are colored sugar, the chocolate version is built on cocoa and a little fat, so it reads as chocolate on the tongue.

That makes it the default for anything that wants a chocolate finish without melting a bar.

Ways to Use Them

The classic move is rolling. Brigaderios, the Brazilian fudge balls, are dipped in chocolate sprinkles so the whole surface is coated, and the sprinkles keep the sticky truffle from gluing to your fingers. Mint Truffles get the same treatment when you want a textured shell instead of a smooth one.

For cookies, dip half the dough or one face into them before or after baking. Dip & Sprinkle Cookies and Cappuccino Cookies use them exactly this way, pressing the sprinkles onto a still-soft or freshly glazed surface so they stick.

They also finish soft desserts well. Scatter them over frosted cake, the cut sides of a layer cake, or ice cream. On doughnuts and cupcakes they are the standard topping over chocolate glaze.

Pairing and Common Mistakes

Chocolate sprinkles lean toward coffee, mint, vanilla, and caramel, which is why they sit so naturally on mocha and cappuccino flavored bakes. Against a pale or brightly colored frosting they also give strong visual contrast.

The most common mistake is adding them too late. Sprinkles only stick to a tacky surface, so apply them while the frosting is still wet or the glaze is fresh. Once a surface sets, they slide right off.

The second mistake is baking them and expecting them to hold their shape. Folded into batter they soften and smear into brown streaks, which is fine for a marbled look but not for defined dots. Keep them on the outside when you want them to read as sprinkles.

Substitutes

The closest swap is the round chocolate nonpareil, which gives the same cocoa flavor in a beadier shape. Rainbow or colored sprinkles match the texture and the way they stick, but they taste of sugar and change the look entirely.

For a finer finish, cocoa powder or grated chocolate dusts on with a deeper flavor, though neither has the crunch. Mini chocolate chips stand in on cakes and ice cream when you want bigger pieces and real chocolate, accepting that they will not coat a surface evenly.

Buying and Storage

Look on the baking aisle near the other decorations.

Read the label if flavor matters: cheaper "chocolate flavored" sprinkles are mostly sugar with cocoa for color, while ones listing cocoa and cocoa butter higher up taste noticeably more like chocolate.

Store them airtight in a cool, dark cupboard, away from heat and humidity that can make them clump or bloom a dull gray. Kept dry they last a year or more, well past most decorating jobs, so a single jar covers a lot of cookies.

Quick facts

In Chinese

巧克力洒

British (UK) term

Chocolate sprinkles

en français

vermicelles de chocolat

en español

virutas de chocolate

Recipes using chocolate sprinkles

There are 15 recipes that contain this ingredient.

All 15 recipes